Freshman guards take center stage in Lee vs. Midland High girls game

Published 3:45 pm, Thursday, December 15, 2011

Daija Stanford, left, and Tana Driver watch as one of the Lady Dawgs shoot free throws Friday during the Tall City Oilman's Invitational Tournament at Chaparral Center. Cindeka Nealy/Reporter-Telegram

Daija Stanford, left, and Tana Driver watch as one of the Lady Dawgs shoot free throws Friday during the Tall City Oilman's Invitational Tournament at Chaparral Center. Cindeka Nealy/Reporter-Telegram

Photo: Cindeka Nealy

Freshman guards take center stage in Lee vs. Midland High girls game

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The future is now for the Lee and Midland High girls basketball teams.

When the Lady Rebels and Lady Bulldogs take the floor at Chaparral Center at 6 p.m. tonight, they will have something in common. Both will be starting freshman guards, who will be relied on to be the team's main ball handler at times.

Midland High's Tana Driver and Lee's Daija Stanford each made the jump from junior high basketball to the varsity game this season, finding themselves in the starting lineups for their respective teams. The early returns on both players are promising.

"When you look at her and you see a short little freshman, you wonder what she's doing on the varsity. Then when you watch her play, there's no doubt she belongs there," Midland High coach Ron Berry said of Driver. "She's explosive, keeps the ball low on the ground. She sees the floor so well -- that's probably her biggest strength. It's like she has eyes in the back of her head. The rest of the team is just now getting used to the angles she passes the ball coming from and when it's coming."

Lee coach Rosalind Lawrence feels just as good about the skill set Stanford brings to the Lady Rebels.

"She's doing a great job adjusting to the tempo of high school basketball," Lawrence raved of the freshman guard. "It's just her love for the game. She wants to play in college and she does the things necessary to do that. She has a knack for driving to the basket and attacking. She knows how to get to the hole."

Of course the biggest worry with giving a freshman quality playing time at the varsity level is the adjustment to the speed of the game. But thanks to spending the offseason playing for DFW Elite -- a travel team based out of the Metroplex -- Driver hasn't struggled catching up to the speed of the game. If anything, Driver has had to play slower.

"It's just the pace of the game. It's a lot slower over here," Driver said. "It taught me to be a leader and to step up. It helped me with the speed of the game. I know how good I am. I feel like I have to prove a lot because I'm a freshman. No one expects as much out of me."

Stanford also spends her summers on a travel team, playing for Midland Elite. Like Driver, that experience has paid dividends in getting her prepared for the varsity level.

"It helped me with my fundamentals and shooting," Stanford said. "That's what got me here. It's awesome. We all have really good chemistry. The hard thing right now is defense. They move and pass faster (on varsity). It makes me feel good (to be on varsity)."

And while Driver and Stanford certainly have room to improve, both coaches know they have a young player with a ton of potential.

"Daija will be one of the greatest basketball players to ever come through Lee," Lawrence said. "I want her to become more of a pest on defense, hit open shots and just grow in her decision making, but she's got the ability to be a really great one."

Berry's thoughts on his own freshman are similar.

"There's been some frustrating moments for her, as well as us. But there's been some real highlights, as well," Berry said. "She's a player you look at and say, 'Wow! I can't believe she's a freshman.' Then there are others, and you think, 'Yeah, she is just a freshman.' But she's just going to keep getting better. She eats, sleeps and drinks basketball. She's going to help us do some good things this year as a freshman, but for the future, the sky is the limit for her."

Needless to say, the Stanford-Driver matchup is one Lee and MHS fans will be watching for the next four seasons.